Welcome to the Circle B Kitchen! We love that you're here and hope you'll browse the site and grab some recipes. The Circle B Kitchen has been blogging since September, 2009. We have loads of recipes and thoughts on food to share in the coming weeks and months, so come back and check in often! We love hearing from you and hope you'll leave a comment or shoot an email our way. Whether you have questions about a recipe or the site in general, please let us know...Contact me at pberry@circle-B-kitchen.com

Our oldest daughter, Erin, has been riding, training and showing horses since she was a teenager. She graduated from Colorado St. University with a degree in Equine Science and is now Financial and Administrative Manager for HETRA (Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Association), which provides therapy through horseback riding for children and adults with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, brain tumors, head injuries, blindness, autism, and strokes. For more information or to donate to this amazing cause, please visit http://www.hetra.org/.

We are awash in little people!! We have 3 of our 4 grandchildren with us this weekend, and it’s way more fun than being parents ever was. I recommend it highly. Besides the general fun and hilarity, I love having an excuse to make kid food. Last night we had a giant vat of macaroni and cheese, tonight is homemade pizza (everyone makes their own) and today it’s cinnamon rolls.

We do love our cinnamon rolls around here, and I recently discovered a very awesome version using my cinnamon raisin bread. I love being able to sneak a little wholesome goodness into kid food, and it’s really easy here because there is a whole wheat component to these and raisins too! They’re goo-ey, sticky, and absolutely addicting.

I start with my cinnamon raisin bread, and at the point where it gets rolled out for its dusting of cinnamon sugar, I just roll it up a little tighter and then slice it up like you would for most cinnamon roll recipes.

But these then go into the cups of a muffin tin and baked like you would a muffin. The only trick

is to make sure you don’t over-bake them. We like our cinnamon rolls a little dough-y, and these are best left a little soft in the center. Oh my.

You don’t have to have kids around to make these. Oh no. When it comes to cinnamon rolls, we’re all kids, right?

Whisk together the bread flour, whole-wheat flour, gluten, sugar, salt, powdered milk, and yeast in a 4-quart bowl of a standing mixer. With the machine running, add the shortening, and 1 ½ cups of the water. When fairly well mixed, slowly add the raisins and continue mixing on low speed until the ingredients form a ball. It should be fairly tacky. If not, add a little more water and continue mixing. It is better for it to be a little too soft that to be too stiff and tough.

Knead for another 10 minutes or so to make a firm, supple dough that is slightly tacky but not sticky. Create a ball with the dough, dragging it towards you against the counter to create surface tension. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Ferment at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

Remove the dough to a flat work surface and press it by hand into a rectangle about ½ inch thick, 8 to 10 inches wide, and 10 to 12 inches long (with the longest side closest to you). Sprinkle liberally with the cinnamon-sugar mixture, and roll up the length of the dough pinching the crease with each rotation to strengthen the surface tension. It will spread wider as you roll it. Fold the ends closed.

Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Cut into 1-inch slices and placed in the cups of a muffin tin that has been lightly coated with cooking spray

Let rise for about 45 minutes or until the rolls just start to crest above the lip of the muffin cups.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes. The

Let cool for about 5 minutes and then remove to finish cooling on a rack. Eat while still warm, butter optional.

Isn't it so much fun being grandparents, I love it too, I think kids keep you young, hey I would have never learned about Justin Bieber and all the words to his songs if it wasn't for my 9 year old granddaughter! lol

Speaking of her, she would love your cinnamon rolls, great to put them in muffin tins. You always have good ideas here Patrice! Did I tell you I gave your baked apple recipe to my friend who made them for Easter to serve with her pork roast.She was hooked, just like I am now.

Thanks, Marie! I totally concur...grandchildren keep you young....and smart. I just learned that spiders don't like the rain cuz they're bad swimmers and their eyes don't work when they're mad. Who knew?